republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-362.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: specified local offices: write-in candidate."
description: "(1) Existing law prohibits an elections official, in any county in which only the incumbent has filed nomination papers for the office of superior court judge, to place the incumbent's name on the ballot unless, within 10 days after the final date for filing nomination papers for the office, a petition indicating that a write-in campaign will be conducted for the office and signed by 100 registered voters qualified to vote with respect to the office is filed with the elections official."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 362"
citation: "California AB 362 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: specified local offices: write-in candidate."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonnie Lowenthal"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2011-02-14"
last_action: "2011-09-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e512bd0a-c855-48b4-9c51-96dd7978b730"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB362"
source_hash: "a261e47256bd593b932ec25ea32a8884e5e94626b0fdd312411791730412935c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 362 (20112012) — Elections: specified local offices: write-in candidate.

(1) Existing law prohibits an elections official, in any county in which only the incumbent has filed nomination papers for the office of superior court judge, to place the incumbent's name on the ballot unless, within 10 days after the final date for filing nomination papers for the office, a petition indicating that a write-in campaign will be conducted for the office and signed by 100 registered voters qualified to vote with respect to the office is filed with the elections official.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/14/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB362&version=20110AB36299INT)
2. **03/14/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB362&version=20110AB36298AMD)
3. **05/09/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB362&version=20110AB36297AMD)
4. **09/06/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB362&version=20110AB36295CHP)
5. **AB362** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB362)
6. **08/16/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB362&version=20110AB36296ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB362 Bonnie Lowenthal By Lieu — **29–8** (pass) · upper
- AB 362 LOWENTHAL Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **50–26** (pass) · lower
- AB 362 LOWENTHAL Assembly Third Reading — **53–21** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bonnie Lowenthal — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2011-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2011-02-24** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-03-15** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (March 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-03-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-04-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 53. Noes 21. Page 904.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-04-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-04-25** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-06-06** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2011-06-08** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 8). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-07-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 8. Page 1847.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-07-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 12 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2011-08-15** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 50. Noes 26. Page 2380.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-08-22** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 10:30 a.m.
- **2011-09-06** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-09-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 214, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e512bd0a-c855-48b4-9c51-96dd7978b730`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).